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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Gilchrist questions Tendulkar's honesty

FORMER Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist is set to further inflame tension between cricket's superpowers by questioning India's sportsmanship, singling out its most revered player, Sachin Tendulkar.

Gilchrist has implied that Tendulkar is a sore loser, and has questioned his honesty during last summer's "Monkeygate" affair that soured relations between the Australian and Indian sides.

In his autobiography, an extract of which appears in tomorrow's Good Weekend, he describes as a "joke" Tendulkar's evidence at an appeal over the episode, in which Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was accused of calling Andrew Symonds a monkey. He said that when Tendulkar told the initial hearing that he could not hear what was said, he was "certain he was telling the truth" because he was "a fair way away".

But Tendulkar told the appeal that Harbhajan used a Hindi term that sounded like "monkey" to Australian ears. Harbhajan's suspension was quashed, infuriating the Australians.

"The Indians got him off the hook when they, of all people, should have been treating the matter of racial vilification with the utmost seriousness."

Gilchrist, considered one of the fairer players to represent Australia during its dominance, makes it clear he believes Harbhajan was guilty and says India's threat to abandon the tour was "a disgraceful act, holding the game to ransom unless they got their way".

He says there was a cultural difference in the way the teams approached the game. "In the Australian mentality, we play it hard and are then quick to shake hands and leave it all on the field. Some of our opponents don't do it that way. Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, can be hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India. Harbhajan can also be hard to find.

"I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks."

The comments are certain to revive ill-will between the rivals, which are in the middle of another testy series. India has taken a 1-0 lead in the series this week, with tension bubbling over and Indian bowler Zaheer Khan fined 80% of his match fee for abusing Matthew Hayden.

The book also reveals the depths of Gilchrist's feelings about the malicious whispering campaign about his private life during Australia's 2002 tour of South Africa.

He describes how he received a telephone call from his manager telling him to turn on his laptop and check his emails.

One of them linked to a website that featured an anonymous email saying his recently born son Harry had been fathered by his former teammate Michael Slater.

"At first I thought it was a prank, and had a chuckle," Gilchrist writes in True Colours. But as he re-read the email, he "got a sick feeling in my stomach". He immediately called his wife, Mel, back in Australia, who was extremely agitated and had to be "calmed down".

Before taking the field in the first Test in Johannesburg, he spotted a huge banner reading: "Baby Gilly, who's your daddy?" Next to it, another sign read: "Slater, Slater."

"This was a disgusting thing to do," Gilchrist writes. "But my initial feeling wasn't outrage. It was more a vicious stab of paranoia. It set me thinking: 'Is the whole world talking about it behind my back? Are my teammates talking about it?' "

Gilchrist describes the rumour as "preposterous nonsense".

Slater agrees: "There was absolutely nothing in it." He said the website had to make a payout, but "that didn't heal the hurt".

By the time he batted, Gilchrist was "in a terrible state". Nevertheless, he went on to score 204 not out, racking up the fastest Test double century in history. "This was the first time I cried on a cricket field," he writes.